Study Explores Why Men & Women Send Nudes to Each Other

Sexting is part of the millennial love language and a new study explores why that is.

A University of Arizona researcher surveyed more than a thousand college students and found 73% of women and 67% of men send texts to turn that person on. Still, 40% of women said they sent a photo to satisfy the request of the recipient and they’re also four times more likely to send a nude in order to prevent that person from losing interest or looking at sexual images of others.

“Based on the existing literature on intimate relationships and sexting, I did expect women to experience more pressures to share images of themselves than men on average,” researcher Morgan Johnstonbaugh said. “It’s the same sexual double standard that’s often perpetuated in society.”

She also found women were twice as likely as men to send a sexy pic to boost their confidence. This was especially true for women who identified as queer.

In future work, Johnstonbaugh wants to dig a little deeper into queer sexting habits and also more into straight men’s reasoning for engaging in the process.